Nice recap from Makita on all their new tools and ample opportunity to show their support of the RockStar Girls! See you next year at WOC 2013. 

Posted by Jay Amstutz at 03:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For when you absolutely positively need the best possible option for coring concrete and don’t mind paying for it. This thing is self propelled, self contained (with water), self feeding, hydraulically controlled with an onboard tachometer and can core anything between ½” to 24” at the flick of a switch. Overkill for 99% of core drill users probably but we love to see it in action making the job of precisely drilling a dozen 24” holes look as easy as playing a game of Frogger. Diamond Products Core Drills are some of the best on the market and the “Ultimate Drilling Machine” 4250025 ($26K, Ohio Power Tool) is certainly the show piece that lives up to its name. See it in action in this video from the 2012 World of Concrete.

Posted by Jay Amstutz at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well known around the world for their high quality rotary hammers, Bosch is serious when it comes to all their concrete tool and accessories. The 2012 show is not exception with full outdoor hands on set up which allows spectators to go through the full process or concrete manipulation from form to finish. Stations include using tools to find rebar, cut, grind, break up and anchor in concrete.

Continue reading "Bosch Unveils New Tools & Accessories - World of Concrete 2012" »

Posted by Jay Amstutz at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The World of Concrete show is one of the largest annual trade shows that hits Las Vegas each year and it is quite a site to see. Home to some very special events including the SpecMix Brickyard 500 brick laying championships, heavy equipment racing, as well as some amazing talent in the decorative concrete competitions (see WOC 2010 album). We are hoping to keep up with some innovative new products that are getting launched at this year’s event over the next week. Check back soon! Also check out twitter @WorldofConcrete #WOC2012 #WorldConcrete #WorldofConcrete ... apparently 60,000 people can't agree on a hash tag.
    

Posted by Jay Amstutz at 05:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The new Diamond Products Cut Core 14” SLR Cut-Off saw 03853 is completely redesigned from the ground up. Tested to complete and out perform against the most common models of Husqvarna/Partner K760 and Stihl TS420 Cut-Off saws. The new Diamond Products SLR saw has a lot to prove if it plans of converting any of their faithful users. Launching officially at next week’s World of Concrete in Las Vegas thousands of professionals will have their opportunity to test it out and see for themselves.

Continue reading "Diamond Products 14” SLR Fast-Cut Saw 03853 with Free Blade" »

Posted by Jay Amstutz at 03:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We got our first look at some of the new hammers at the Milwaukee 2010 STAFDA Booth Visit back in November. Now we are finally getting our first real info on the 3 that will launch first. It looks like they are starting with the smallest in the lineup but these new hammers look to offer some very nice features in compact SDS Plus hammer drills. Milwaukee has not been a player in Rotary Hammer Drills for sometime but with their solid engineering and focus on professional tradesmen we have pretty high hopes for these new drills.

Continue reading "3 New Milwaukee SDS Plus Rotary Hammer Drills" »

Posted by Jay Amstutz at 06:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Continue reading "Building an Emergency Concrete Structure in an Hour or Less" »

Posted by Jay Amstutz at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you are not sure what a crack chasing saw is it probably sounds like a pretty funny name for a saw. Crack chasing is the process of cutting into cracks in concrete in order to repair them with an epoxy or some other form of patching element. The new CC1700 Diamond Products Crack Chasing saws are available in 2 different gas powered sizes 14HP CC1714R-6 ($5716, Ohio Power Tool) and 22HP CC1722R-6 ($7650, Ohio Power Tool) but both accept the same size 6” blades. Obviously 1.5” cut depth is not very deep for a large piece of equipment like these but the crack chasing blades are available in sizes from .250” to .750” thickness to properly open up the crack for proper repair. For small cracks a large angle grinder with the proper blade can be used but is not going to provide as clean of cut and could never go as wide.

Continue reading "Diamond Products New Crack Chasing Saws – World of Concrete" »

Posted by Jay Amstutz at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We have previously mentioned some of the new products from Bosch & DeWalt at the World of Concrete 2011 but we certainly have not forgotten about Makita Power Tools who showed up with an impressive outdoor set up and several new products. Not to mention all the Rockstar, Motocross, Makita Girl flair we have come to expect. Also check out this photo album from the Matika outdoor booth from World of Concrete 2011.  

"Makita offers a full range of solutions to the concrete pro, including rotary and demolition hammers, grinding and surfacing solutions, concrete power cutters, accessories, diamond blades, and more," said Wayne Hart, Communications Manager, Makita USA.  "Makita power tools deliver industrial strength performance with less vibration in a more compact size, and are engineered to beat up the concrete, not the end user.  World of Concrete is a great opportunity to present our latest best-in-class tools and let contractors feel the difference for themselves." 

Continue reading "Makita Power Tools at World of Concrete 2011" »

Posted by Jay Amstutz at 09:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This year DeWalt again had an impressive indoor and outdoor setup at the 2011 World of Concrete. Always a packed house wherever the yellow team sets up shop, in addition to all the latest tools and accessories for users to demo there were several fun competitions to win prizes that drew pretty good sized crowds. Check out this photo album for more pictures from DeWalt at the 2011 World of Concrete.

Continue reading "DeWalt Power Tools at World of Concrete 2011" »

Posted by Jay Amstutz at 04:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Every year we get pretty excited about the World of Concrete because of all the new product releases that happen just prior or during the actual show. It also has some really cool and interesting attractions to see, if you are into concrete at least. The most exciting new Bosch concrete product had to have been the new Brute BH2760VCD ($1599, Ohio Power Tool) which we had compared to the Makita and DeWalt previously.  Here are a few others to look for that are either out now or headed to stores in the near future. Also check out this photo album for more pictures from the show.

Continue reading "Bosch Power Tools at World of Concrete 2011" »

Posted by Jay Amstutz at 08:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the new products you can check out at the outdoor Bosch booth at the 2011 World of Concrete are the new R-Tec Concrete Chisels. Bosch is replacing its SDS-Max flat chisel and pointed chisel with new more powerful chisels which offer the professional user considerable advantages. The R-Tec reflective element (cone shape in middle of the chisel) increases material removal rate by up to 15%. This is achieved by converting the recoil energy into additional impact energy, therefore considerably increasing the material removal rate while reducing vibration. Both chisels also have a self-sharpening cutting edge, which enables them to achieve a constantly high material removal rate. It also saves time by eliminating the need for time-consuming chisel resharpening.

The new SDS-max R-Tec 1” Flat Chisel HS1936 ($15, Ohio Power Tool) has a cutting edge twice as long as that of a standard 1” chisel, which doubles the material removal rate. On the new SDS-max R-Tec Bull Point Chisel HS1935 ($18, Ohio Power Tool) the “blast spin” action of the optimized cutting geometry enables continuous work without jamming in the concrete. At nearly the same price you will pay for any other 16” chisel these are definitely worth consideration.
     

Posted by Jay Amstutz at 06:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today is the official start of the exhibitor part of the World of Concrete which will last until this Friday the 21^st. If you have never been to this show it is quite a sight with 3 huge indoor halls and 2 outside areas. Over 50,000 people are expected to attend this year with a ton of new products being announced for the first time. “Going Green” is of course a buzz word in any industry and the World of Concrete is no exception. Multiquip has announcing the first ever fuel cell light tower which in addition to being economically friendly also offers several other advantages in operation.

Continue reading "Multiquip Announces Fuel Cell Light Tower at World of Concrete" »

Posted by Jay Amstutz at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January is always a fun time to talk concrete because of the World of Concrete show at the end of the month. If you have a chance to go one interesting demonstrations you will probably see is the guys cutting perfect square windows in solid wall slabs of concrete using diamond chain saws. It still amazes us everytime we see it. There really is nothing that compares to these concrete chain saws when you are looking at cutting power to weight and the ability for one person to control it.

Continue reading "Concrete Cutting with CS Unitec Diamond Chain Saws" »

Posted by Jay Amstutz at 03:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Less than a month away is the 2011 World of Concrete in Las Vegas and one of the highlights of the show is the Bricklayer 500 competition. Last year we were there for the 2010 World of Concrete and were really surprised at the turnout and excitement around this event. With over $100,000 on the line the competition is pretty fierce and many of the contestants have entire cheering sections with 20 or more friends & family. See the official press release below.  

Continue reading "2011 Spec Mix Bricklayer 500 Competition Las Vegas 1-19-2011" »

Posted by Jay Amstutz at 03:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I apologize in advance for the dry material but we get lots of questions about concrete core drilling and hopefully we can clear it up a few of the basics in this post. There are lots of options when it comes to coring drills & rigs in terms of price, quality, size, power source, etc. Each type of drill has its place and it’s not always easy to select the right one and not make the decision totally based on which is cheapest. Ohio Power Tool offers a wide range of different types of core drills to cover the majority of needs out there which we’ll look at but obvious there are dozens of other brands out there that could be matched up.

Continue reading "Selecting the Right Concrete Core Drill & Diamond Core Bits" »

Posted by Jay Amstutz at 01:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At the World of Concrete this year Bosch had several impressive displays inside, outside and even sponsored the tools competition. It was also a great opportunity to get a sneak peak at many of the new tools which will be coming out in the next few months. Some new things in cordless, lasers, detectors, new Power Boxes, innovative accessories and much more. Here are just a few of the highlights; as we get more info and get closer to the launch dates we will circle back and do full posts on each of these.

Litheon 18V Cordless – SDS & Grinder

There were 2 very interesting products I had the opportunity to try out for the Bosch 18v Litheon line. First was the cordless grinder which was set up along with the Makita, DeWalt & Milwaukee cordless grinders. All had cutting wheels and we were cutting a standard size metal pipe. The Bosch held up amazingly well compared to some of the competition, the Bosch was clearly more powerful and with their battery protection system I was assured would far outlast in heavy use. Bosch also had a SDS-Plus 18v cordless drill on hand to demo. I’m not sure how the power/battery compares to 36v 11536-2 ($522, Ohio Power Tool) but it felt very solid and would be ideal for setting tap cons or more heavy duty applications.

Continue reading "Bosch Power Box & Other New Products for 2010" »

Posted by Jay Amstutz at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This year surrounding the world of concrete there was lots of talk about how the show size shrunk and how the economy is affecting the construction industry. This Las Vegas Review Journal article looks at those aspects of the show and managed to sneak in some key buzzwords like Obama, stimulus packages and unemployment. Not the most positive spin I’ve ever read.

In the area of power tools, new laws and regulations are requiring silica dust to be handled in specific ways; lawsuits have already popped up on the subject and are an area of concern for many people. Bosch has been one of the companies leading the way in creating new tools and accessories to combat the silica dust problem. Bosch has a new Dust Collecting ¾” Rotary Hammer 11250VSRD ($299) available now that is light weight and features a micro filter system that dramatically reduces any type of dust in the air. Bosch also has introduced a line of dust extraction grinder covers that work with almost all grinders from 4.5” to 9” and cover the work area and suck all the dust and debris out into the Bosch Airsweep vacuum or other wet/dry vacuums.

The World of Concrete website has a full list of all the 2009 MIP (Most Innovative Products) which you can see on the MIP page. You can’t find this page from their regular web page because WOC waisted no time and is now already planning from 2010.      

New technologies and techniques are making so much more possible with concrete. Checkout this short video I found on Youtube which highlights some of the different new processes.

Posted by Jay Amstutz at 08:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)